UN climate report, What exceeding 1.5C means

Par Jonathan Watts - 1 mn

A landmark report on Monday from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that urgent change is needed to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C. The Paris climate agreement had seen countries agree to keep a rise between 1.5C and 2C.

So, what would this half-degree difference mean?

Insects, which are vital for pollination of crops and plants, are almost twice as likely to lose half their habitat at 2C than at 1.5C.

1.5C would likely be the difference between the survival of some Great Barrier Reef coral and its complete decline.

Rising risks

‘If we act decisively and innovate and invest wisely we could avoid the worst aspects of climate change’ Nicholas Stern bit.ly/2NxakMV

At 1.5C the proportion of the global population exposed to water stress could be 50% lower Food scarcity would be less of a problem and hundreds of millions fewer people, particularly in poor countries, would be at risk of climate-related poverty.